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Six years ago, an eBay purchase inspired WeGoLook founders to launch an on-demand inspection platform. Today, that spark of an idea has evolved into one of the world’s largest on-demand crowdsourcing platforms and secured an affiliate partnership with eBay Motors to provide inspection services for eBay customers.

The business model was based on crowdsourcing (before anyone knew of Uber) and originated when a friend of WeGoLook Co-Founder and CEO, Robin Smith, was interested in purchasing an electronic projector on eBay but thought the seller was misrepresenting the item and said, “I sure wish I had someone to go look at that for me.” This dilemma planted a seed and shortly thereafter, WeGoLook began recruiting nationwide “Lookers”, created a consumer facing website and developed a backend platform to support the service of dispatching a “Looker” to any asset location to take current photos, video a working demonstration, answer custom questions and more. The WeGoLook customer then received an electronic report with these data points, therefore arming them with current information to make a confident purchasing decision.

After a beta period, WeGoLook officially launched in December of 2010 to assist consumers in mitigating risk when purchasing an item sight unseen by providing “Looker” eyes and boots on the ground to perform inspections and tasks on their behalf. Over the years, we’ve loved hearing the stories about how our Lookers have saved our clients from bad investments or outright scams.

WeGoLook first visited San Jose and presented the platform to eBay motors in February of 2011. Now, five years later, eBay and WeGoLook have partnered to provide eBay Motors customers with on-site inspections for any vehicle, motorcycle, RV, powersport or boat anywhere in the USA, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. Since the affiliate link has been live on eBay Motors, Lookers dispatched by WeGoLook through inspection reports ordered by eBay customers, have already saved potential buyers from a handful of fraudulent listings. The partnership between eBay Motors and WeGoLook signifies eBay’s continued commitment to improving the buying and selling experience for their users by providing solutions to improve buyer confidence.

Ordering a vehicle inspection is easy. Customers of eBay Motors users can request a WeGoLook vehicle inspection directly from each eBay Motors listing. For eBay shoppers, WeGoLook auto reports start at $69 and include current photos, VIN and make/model verification, and an odometer reading. Buyers can also purchase additional information (ranging from $159 - $199) about the vehicle including: video demos and tours, photos, diagnostic and collision checks, test drives and more. When decision timelines are critical, eBay shopper can also add a “Rush” service to receive a basic or custom report as fast as 24 hours.

“When shopping for vehicles online, consumers want the same convenience and services they have become accustomed to receiving when buying clothing or electronics,” said Jay Hanson, eBay’s Vice President of North America Merchandising, Hard Goods. “With WeGoLook, we’re providing customers with an additional peace-of-mind when they buy on eBay.”

“The partnership with eBay is personally very rewarding,” says Robin Smith, WeGoLook CEO. “To see the initial dream play out in real life is personally gratifying. Lots of hard work from the WeGoLook Team has made it all possible and we absolutely love helping eBay customers make informed buying decisions. Our platform is perfect for eBay, as we can “Look” at any item on the site plus pick up items and deliver to a shipper. I can’t wait to see where our partnership takes us over the next 12 months.”

eBay Vice President Jay Hanson and WeGoLook CEO Robin Smith

Read eBay’s press release here and visit wegolook.com/ebay to learn how the inspection report process works and to view a sample report.

In 2016, global insurtech investments totaled $1.7 billion, with both the volume and value of deals roughly doubling since 2014. This doesn’t include companies that are self-funded, have traditional financing, or work with angel investors to bring innovation to the $4.5 trillion global insurance industry. And, every segment of the insurance value chain has been impacted by those investments, including claims.

We are excited to announce our partnership with the CCC ONE platform to help insurance policyholders file self-service claims remotely. CCC ONE is a cloud platform developed by CCC Information Services, Inc. (CCC), a leading software as a service provider to the automotive, insurance, and collision repair industries. Founded in 1980, CCC leverages the CCC ONE platform to link a vast network of more than 350 insurance carriers, more than 24,000 repair facilities, hundreds of part suppliers, dozens of third-party data and service providers, and car manufacturers.

Through this partnership, CCC’s customers can electronically connect to our on-demand field force of more than 40,000 well-trained Lookers who are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our Lookers are always standing by to help insurers provide a high-level of service at a critical point in the claims process. When assigned, one of our Lookers will gather imagery and information in the field, in any U.S. location—even rural areas—in as little as one day.

How it works

When a claim qualifies for CCC’s mobile channel, policyholders are instructed by their insurer how to capture and upload photos of the damage via their smart device. However, when the policyholder requests assistance, or they do not complete the process within the insurer-defined period, insurers can send us an electronic notification through CCC ONE.

As soon as we receive the request for assistance, we dispatch a nearby Looker to take and upload photos to CCC ONE. Once the photos are uploaded, they are immediately available for insurance appraisers to initiate the claims or repair process.

Additionally, any of CCC’s customers can directly assign claims to WeGoLook through CCC ONE. Once assigned, we immediately dispatch Lookers to capture and upload photos and other requested information from the site of the claim.

It’s a win, win, win

We’re very excited about this partnership the many ways it allows WeGoLook to offer value to policyholders and insurers alike. With CCC and WeGoLook, policyholders gain an even more seamless experience when filing self-service claims. Insurers get access to our on-demand workforce through the CCC platform to help them provide even better service to their insurance industry clients.

And for us, this partnership furthers our mission, and the mission of our parent company, Crawford & Company, to help restore and enhance lives, businesses, and communities.